Average age of first-time mums in 2004
According to the fourteenth annual report on pregnancy and childbirth in Australia released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Perinatal Statistics Unit, over 40% of births in 2004 were to first-time mums, who, at an average age of 28 years were about two years older than their 1991 counterparts.
The report, Australia's mothers and babies 2004, shows:
- Of the 257,205 babies born to 252,871 mothers in 2004, 108,575 were born to first-time mums.
- More than half (57.9%) were younger than 30 years old.
- Mothers aged 35 years or older made up 12.5% of new mothers in 2004, compared with 6.9% in 1995 when the average age of first-time mothers was 26.5 years.
- Close to 20% (49,411) of all women who gave birth in 2004 were aged 35 years or older.
- Around 9.2% of babies born to first-time mothers were preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation), compared with 7.4% of babies born to women who had previously given birth.
- Low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams) was more common in live-born babies of first-time mothers.
The report also showed that, compared with women who had previously given birth, first-time mothers had higher rates of interventions, such as induced labour and caesarean section.
The overall increase in caesarean sections continued with close to 30% of all mothers having caesarean sections in 2004, compared with less than 20% in 1995.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, media release: First time mums getting older 19 Dec 2006.
[viewed 08/03/2007]
Pregnant teens travel long distances to access abortions, 2006
Teenagers are 2.5 times more likely than older women to travel long distances to have abortions, a study of over 1000 women in eight private Melbourne clinics has found. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University have found nearly one in five Victorian teenagers (aged 15–19 years) were travelling over 100km to access services, compared to 10% of women in their 20s and 5% of women in their 30s.
The study, involving 1369 patients, was carried out in 2002–03 by Carolyn Nickson (now at University of Melbourne) and Professor Anthony Smith and Dr Julia Shelley, both from the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society at Latrobe University.
Ms Nickson said that 'many abortion patients – teenagers in particular – face substantial and immediate costs beyond the service fee, as well as the difficulties associated with poor continuity of care and time away from home at a stressful time in their lives.
'Up to 13% of the teenagers in our survey were planning to stay away from home overnight due to the distance they had travelled [to access abortion services], and 11% definitely weren't planning to claim the service on Medicare,' she said.
The study is published in the August 2006 edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
Sources:
Melbourne University 2006, Teens hit by shortage of country abortion services, media release, 14 August, Melbourne University [viewed 18/01/2007].
Herald Sun, 14/8/06, p.23.
Australian, 14/8/06, p.5.
Medicare terminations in Victoria, 2003–04
| Age | No. of abortions |
| 12 | 2 |
| 13 | 3 |
| 14 | 42 |
| 15 | 104 |
| 16 | 211 |
| 17 | 342 |
| 18 | 612 |
| 19 | 709 |
| 20-24 | 3,866 |
Source: Medicare-funded Abortion in Victoria by Age Group, 2003-2004, Health Insurance Commission, quoted in The Age, 30/08/04, p.5.
Teenage mothers in Victoria, 2004
In a study of 100 young, pregnant Victorian women who were planning to continue their pregnancies, about a third had planned their pregnancies and many believed that having a baby would be one of their most positive experiences of their lives.
About half of the young women in the study were teenagers. of these, more than half were aged less than five when their parents had separated. The teenage mothers were also more likely to have been exposed to violence between their parents (22% compared to 2% among the older women), and to have higher rates of depression.
The study's author, Professor Julie Quinlivan (professor of obstetrics at Melbourne University and head of the Royal Women's Hospital's 'Young Mums' clinic), said that in her experience, about a third of teenage mothers cope well with their new role, about a third have a mixed experience and a third fare poorly.
About half of teenage mothers have another child within two years. The ones who do well have family support, get back into education and don't have another baby straight away.
60% of teenage mothers in the study who had smoked gave up when they became pregnant.
Nearly 75% who drank alcohol stopped when they became pregnant.
75% who had used illegal drugs stopped when they became pregnant.
Source: The Age, 21/06/04, p.5.
Professor Quinlivan's report was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 38, no.4 (April 2004), pp.197-203 under the title Impact of demographic factors, early family relationships and depressive symptomatology in teenage pregnancy.